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Ch. 4-Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights
N/A
17
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
02/20/2015

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Term
Bill of Rights
Definition
The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They include rights such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections (such as the right to a jury trial) for persons accused of crimes.
Term
Civil Liberties
Definition
The fundamental individual rights of a free society, such as freedom of speech & the right to a jury trial, which in the United States are protected by the Bill of Rights.
Term
Clear-And-Present-Danger Test
Definition
A test devised by the Supreme Court in 1919 to define the limits of free speech in the context of national security. According to the test, government cannot abridge political expression unless it presents a clear & present danger to the nation's security.
Term
Due Process Clause (of the Fourteenth Amendment)
Definition
The clause of the Constitution that has been used by the judiciary to apply Bill of Rights protections to the actions of state governments.
Term
Establishment Clause
Definition
The First Amendment provision stating that government may not favor one religion over another or favor religion over no religion, and prohibiting Congress from passing laws respecting the establishment of religion.
Term
Exclusionary Rule
Definition
The legal principle that government is prohibited from using in trials evidence that was obtained by unconstitutional means (for example, illegal search & seizure).
Term
Free-Exercise Clause
Definition
A First Amendment provision that prohibits the government from interfering with the practice of religion.
Term
Freedom of Expression
Definition
Americans' freedom to communicate their views, the foundation of which is the First Amendment rights of freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
Term
Imminent Lawless Action Test
Definition
A legal test that says government cannot lawfully suppress advocacy that promotes lawless action unless such advocacy is aimed at producing, and is likely to produce, imminent lawless action.
Term
Lemon Test
Definition
A three-part test to determine whether a law relating to religion is valid under the religious establishment clause. To be valid, a law must have a secure purpose, serve neither to advance nor inhibit religion, and avoid excessive government entanglement with religion.
Term
Libel
Definition
Publication of false material that damages a person's reputation.
Term
Prior Restraint
Definition
Government prohibition of speech or publication before the fact, which is presumed by the courts to be unconstitutional unless the justification for it is overwhelming.
Term
Procedural Due Process
Definition
The constitutional requirement that government must follow proper legal procedures before a person can be legitimately punished for an alleged offense.
Term
Right of Privacy
Definition
A right implied by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights that grants individuals a degree of personal privacy upon which government cannot lawfully intrude. The right gives individuals a level of free choice in areas such as reproduction & intimate relations.
Term
Selective Incorporation
Definition
The process by which certain of the rights (for example, freedom of speech) contained in the Bill of Rights become applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment to actions by the state governments.
Term
Slander
Definition
Spoken falsehoods that damage a person's reputation.
Term
Symbolic Speech
Definition
Action (for example, the waving or burning of a flag) for the purpose of expressing a political opinion.
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